School Board Tries To Trim New High School Proposal

February 20, 2003|By JOSH KOVNER; Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — The school board will meet Tuesday to try to trim the $83.05 million cost of a proposed new high school, knowing that what it does now could spell success or failure at the next referendum.

On the surface, at least, the nine-member board appears divided over the scope of the project. On Feb. 11, when the board picked a city-owned site on Wilderman's Way for the new school, board member Lloyd Duggan questioned the wisdom of even modest reductions. At the same meeting, two absent board members said in letters read into the record that the school should cost about $75 million.

That put Barbara Weiss and Geen Thazhampallath about $8 million apart from Duggan. Another member, Jay Keiser, proposed a price of $79.9 million, but his motion failed.

This has triggered some alarm bells at city hall. Bent on avoiding a repeat of last June's referendum, when a proposed $91.5 million project was shot down by voters, Mayor Domenique Thornton has said she won't appoint a building committee until the school board reaches a consensus on the site, cost and scope of a new school.

Councilman John Robinson, citing the shaky economy, the possibility of a local tax increase and a gaping state budget deficit, has suggested delaying the high school referendum by one year.

School board Chairwoman Sally Boske said Wednesday that the new school should cost less than $80 million. She said she believes a majority of the school board would support knocking 5,000 square feet off the building, dropping parking from 650 to 450 spaces, and scaling back on furniture, fixtures and equipment to get there.

The state reimburses the city for about 64 percent of the construction cost, meaning the local share of an $80 million project would be $28.8 million. The city would sell bonds to cover the cost and pay off the bond issue over 20 years. Enrollment at the aging Middletown High School, designed for 1,100 students, is expected to top 1,400 students in the next two years.

``The hard part is going to be getting down into the $79.9 million to $75 million range,'' Keiser said. ``That's quite a stretch. We'll see how we do on Tuesday night.''

Weiss has proposed more significant cuts, including eliminating some athletic fields and scrapping the air conditioning. Those measures aren't supported by most of the board members.

Thazhampallath predicted the board would approve a pricetag of between $78 million and $80 million on Tuesday.

``But it won't be unanimous,'' he said. ``I'd be comfortable with $78 million. That would tell the voters that not only did we hear you on the site, we heard you on cost.''

The choice last spring of a privately owned site on East Street sparked tremoundous neighborhood opposition and was a major factor in the record voter turnout at the referendum in June.

``I want a project that I can be comfortable with when I go into the voting booth myself,'' Thazhampallath said. ``I'm not there yet, not until the price comes down.''